‘Wrong Person on Trial’

By Ashley Saari
MONADNOCK LEDGER-TRANSRCIPT
The defense for accused murderer Armando Barron of Jaffrey opened its case in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene Tuesday by telling the jury that the wrong person was on trial and that it was Armando Barron’s wife Britany who fired the fatal shot that killed Jonathan Amerault, 25, of Keene in September 2020.

Armando Barron faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, multiple assault and domestic violence charges, solicitation of murder and solicitation of assault.

“The wrong person is on trial for the murder of Jonathan Amerault,” public defender Morgan Taggart-Hampton said. “You are sitting here to determine the guilt or innocence of Armando Barron, the man the prosecution and police have accused of murdering Jonathan Amerault. The real murderer did not have to go through a trial. The real murderer has not had to face the terrible facts of this brutal, senseless and vicious murder. The real murderer never faced a jury. The real murderer was not even charged in Jonathan Amerault’s death. In fact, you are going to hear testimony from the real murderer.”

The prosecution alleges that on Sept. 19, 2020, Armando Barron found text messages between his wife and Amerault, a co-worker, suggesting they were in a relationship. Barron is accused of assaulting his wife, luring Amerault to Annett Wayside Park in Rindge, assaulting him, attempting to coerce his wife to murder him through several methods and then shooting Amerault and killing him.

After the murder, Britany Barron made a confession to police, and in August 2021, she pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying evidence for actions she took to cover up the crime when her husband was not present. She was originally sentenced to 3 1/2 to seven years, but was granted parole in April. As part of her plea agreement, she must testify in her husband’s trial.

The day began with jury members viewing several key locations they will hear about in the upcoming trial, including the intersection of Route 124 and Route 202, where security cameras captured images of the Barrons’ and Amerault’s vehicles. The jury view also included a drive around the Teleflex manufacturing building where Britany Barron and Amerault worked, along with Annett Wayside Park, where the murder occurred.

Defense claims contradictions

In her opening statement, Taggart-Hampton admitted that her client had committed some of the crimes he was accused of. She said the defense was not disputing the second-degree assault charge for allegedly striking Britany Barron in the face and breaking her nose, nor the second-degree assault charge for allegedly kicking Amerault in the head.

The defense is also not disputing two of the charges of domestic abuse, including allegations that Armando Barron struck Britany Barron in the head in their home in Jaffrey, and a separate charge related to striking her in the head while in their vehicle.

However, the defense denies the other charges in the case, including a domestic assault charge that Armando Barron put a gun in his wife’s mouth, and that he ordered her to try to seriously harm or kill Amerault by stepping on his neck, slicing his wrists and attempting to coerce her to shoot him.

Taggart-Hampton said the prosecution’s version of events is largely reliant upon the testimony of Britany Barron, and that the defense would show that there were contradictions in her story. Taggart-Hampton raised Britany Barron’s account of the murder site, saying she did not describe going deep into a wooded area of Annett Wayside Park, where Amerault’s blood had been found. She also cited a possible gap in time between the first two gunshot injuries and the third, fatal one, as well as the likelihood that the third shot had been taken from the position Armando Barron was sitting in the vehicle.

Taggart-Hampton denied that Armando Barron had solicited his wife to assault Amerault, including stepping on his neck or cutting his wrists.

“Only Britany knows why she did those things,” Taggart-Hampton said.

Taggart-Hampton argued Britany Barron had a strong motive to lie, to protect herself from prosecution, and framed herself as a victim.

Prosecution cites alleged abuse

In its opening statement, the prosecution claimed Britany and Armando Barron had been having a rocky period in their marriage for about a year, and a week prior to Sept. 19, Britany had requested a divorce, which resulted in Armando assaulting her. After finding the messages between Britany Barron and Amerault, the prosecution says Armando Barron had sent their three children out of the home to stay with their grandparents, who lived in the attached duplex next door, before assaulting his wife again, including putting a gun in her mouth and threatening her life.

“This was not a torrid love affair,” said Assistant Attorney General Scott Chase said of the relationship between Britany Barron and Amerault. “They kissed twice. But that was more than enough.”

Chase said Armando Barron “terrorized” his wife, and that state of terror persisted throughout the encounter with Amerault, influencing the actions she took afterward.

“She knew she was going to die. Not thought. She knew she was going to die,” Chase said.

The prosecution alleges Armando Barron drove his wife, threatening her with a gun, to Annette Wayside Park in Rindge, and texted Amerault from her phone, asking him to meet. When Amerault arrived, the prosecution alleges Armando Barron assaulted him, including kicking him in the head while he was on the ground, and attempted to get his wife to kill Amerault by holding the gun in her hand, then ordering her to stand on his neck and cut his wrists.

Eventually, the prosecution alleges Armando Barron ordered Amerault into the back of Amerault’s Subaru Impreza, where he shot him three times.

In the wake of the murder, the prosecution alleges Armando Barron ordered his wife to drive Amerault’s vehicle, with his body in the back, to a remote campsite in northern New Hampshire, while he was on the phone with her. At the campsite, he allegedly ordered her to remove Amerault’s head from his body, dispose of his body and clean and hide Amerault’s vehicle.

The campsite was discovered by hunters, who had a bear-hunting site nearby. They alerted New Hampshire Fish and Game officers, who found Britany Barron alone at the campsite with Amerault’s remains.

Britany Barron spoke with the hunters and with Fish and Game officers before they discovered evidence of Amerault’s murder, and told them visible bruises on her face were from a fight with a friend and denied that her husband had assaulted her, Chase said.

Chase said the fear of her husband and the control he exerted over her, even when not present, led to Britany Barron following his orders to cover up the crime and acting as he had demanded she act.

“It’s easy to find ourselves sitting back and thinking, ‘I would never do that.’ But in this case, we’re asking you to keep an open mind,” Chase said. “Keep an open mind to what Britany had been through, the near-nonstop psychological terror she had experienced for three days.”

Chase said Britany Barron spent more than 20 hours with police giving statements and leading them to areas where physical evidence was located, saying there were likely pieces of evidence that would not have been recovered without her assistance in locating them.

First witnesses testify

After opening statements, the state called its first two witnesses in the case, Amerault’s mother Justine and his close friend Austin Zuercher, who described what Amerault had said about his relationship with Britany Barron and the search for Amerault prior to the discovery of his body at the campsite.

Justine Amerault said she had spoken to her son about the relationship on Sept. 13, when he came to their home for dinner. She said her son told her he was “talking to someone” from work who had children and was married, but said her marriage had been abusive, and it was over. He showed his mother a photo of Britany Barron.

Zuercher said he last spoke to Jonathan Amerault the Thursday before he was killed. Amerault told him he was interested in a woman from work, and said, “I really like her a lot. The only thing is, she’s in the middle of a divorce.”

Zuercher said he got the impression that the relationship had not been going on for very long, and that Amerault told him nothing had happened so far, but the two had been texting.

Both witnesses spoke about the days following Amerault’s murder and the frantic search for him.

Originally, Justine Amerault said Jonathan’s friends and family thought he may have been in a hiking accident, as he was an avid hiker and runner. It was only well into the search that his mother realized his hiking shoes were still in the house, and perhaps he had not gone hiking that Sunday as he had originally planned.

Justine Amerault said she began to become concerned when she attempted to reach her son Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020, and his phone went straight to voicemail and he did not answer any texts. She drove to his home in Keene and spoke to neighbors and called his close friends, and was told the last anyone had heard from him was late on Saturday night.

Justine Amerault said she contacted Teleflex, where her son was an engineer, and was told he had not shown up for a scheduled shift without notice, which was unusual for him. Police attempted to track Amerault’s cellphone, and found it had last been active in Jaffrey that Saturday night.

Justine Amerault also described driving in the area, looking down hiking trails and calling for her son.

The court is expected to reconvene the case on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. at the Cheshire Superior Court. New Hampshire Superior Court Judge Elizabeth M. Leonard is presiding.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or [email protected]. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.

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